Walker Percy's Loss Of The Creature

The excerpt Walden, by Henry David Thoreau, is a piece that explores the purpose of life, especially if it isn 't lived to the fullest. Thoreau starts by sharing the meaning and value of life. His idea of his personal achievement was to live life and die with a sense of peace and knowledge that he did not waste a single moment. He wanted to live life while being true to himself regardless of whether he would find life to be cruel or a wonderful place, and this was a risk he was willing to take. In a modern sense we are intrigued by technology. Although those in favor of technology may say that the new devices and applications do not affect human interaction and our way of living we are, are unable to see that, even in a room filled with people, there is an isolation barrier and an inability to live life to the fullest.

In his article “The Loss of The Creature,” Walker Percy presents the case that human or “creature’s” experiences are most often trivial because of our preconceived notions. Percy believes we can only truly enjoy these experiences if we leave the “beaten track.” Only then can we see the true beauty of the experience.

During this essay written by Walker Percy, it is clear that his overall opinion of experiencing new things is in the eye of the beholder and/or the hands of those around them and their social status. Percy uses many examples in his writing including that of an explorer, tourist, and local all seeing things for the first time either literally or in a new different light. In this essay, I will play on both sides of regaining experiences, seeing things on a different level then before or the first time. Regaining experiences is a valid argument brought up by Percy as it is achievable. While criticizing each side of the argument, I will also answer questions as to the validity of Percy's argument,

In Walker Percy’s, “The Loss of the Creature”, Percy argues that individuals are not capable of having authentic experiences due to his idea of double deprivation, in the sense that experiences are prepackaged for the consumer and are also subject to spoliation. Also that individuals associate objects with a term in which makes that object subject to symbolic complex. Where it is not impossible but simply rare to see an individual capable of having an authentic experience. He also explains to the reader how most experiences one encounters are packaged for them, in which the individual cannot have an authentic experience. Furthermore, he explains how some experiences are also a victim of spoliation as well, in the sense that not only are individuals incapable of having authentic experiences but they are spoiled as well. Whereas one has in a sense lost their sovereignty due to not being able to formulate authentic experiences without

It’s the end of the school day. I finally breathe and release myself of the stress and the frustration of a normal school day. I sit on the benches outside and wait for my ride. With technology gone and no people to talk to, I just sit still. The evergreen trees gently move in some of the final gusts of the summer breeze. And as I’m looking at life’s beauty and as thoughts swim through my brain, I become frightened. Because, I have never thought of life, as a whole, so profoundly. It transforms into satisfaction. Without distractions, I sit with my thoughts and world’s alluring nature. As I relive this moment in my mind, I can’t help but think of Henry David Thoreau. How he just sometimes sat and took in everything, and absorbed everything

Du Bois conveys his love for the Grand Canyon, and described this natural wonder as the “one thing that lived and will live eternal in my soul-the Grand Canyon” (Darkwater 165). For Du Bois, the Grand Canyon represented something eternal, something which held the imprint of God. Grand Canyon was a national park with anecdotes about life under Jim Crow, bringing double consciousness to bear on the history of conservation. The extent of the Canyon provided him some viewpoints on the violence committed against him and his people. It’s as if he was saying maybe, just maybe there is something else out there, something that provides a basis for hope. If the natural world is so grand, majestic, and beautiful, humanity could be some great day as well.

It is often noted that one can never truly understand the beauty of life until they go and experience it. This idea parallels with getting to know who they really are and figuring out what their purpose in life genuinely is, which not many people cannot comprehend. Everyone has different fears, desires, and feelings, but not until you live a life of new experiences do you harness your true self. Growing through experiences and connecting with nature allows someone to more deeply reflect on their individual purpose on Earth and discover their own definition of happiness. Henry David Thoreau comments on this even further by proposing that the disconnection from a society in which we are comfortable is the only way to cultivate an understanding of ourselves. Chris McCandless sets out on an adventure in a life absent of routine to push his boundaries and prove that he could make it on his own, finding the meaning of life in the process. Henry David Thoreau’s statement “Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves”, is correct, as evidenced by Jon Krakauer’s novel Into the Wild.

A glaring irregularity in the steady stream of supporting statements Percy puts forth is the example of a tourist couple that gets lost in the mountains and ends up ”…in a tiny valley not even marked on the map. There they discover an Indian village.” At a glance, this is a perfect example of true discovery! It is everything that Percy wants the reader to have! But as the reader keeps reading, he quickly realizes that he has fallen into the same trap the aforementioned tourists fell into. “The couple know at once that this is ‘it’….Yet it is more likely that what happens is…a rather desperate impersonation…an actual loss of hope.” After the winded reader gets up from the height from which he just fell, he realizes that the couple, as Percy says, “…[Has] the experience in the bag.” Discovery itself is a tourist attraction. It is this example that indicates that there is no other way to regain sovereignty than through the individual’s own perception. No amount of literal discovery will create the subjective experience of discovery. This conjecture is verified when Percy later points out that the couple wants their expert friend to see the village “not to share their experience, but to certify their experience as genuine.” The couple wants to bag and tag their “discovery,” effectively

Rebecca Solnit’s Walking and the Suburbanized Psyche stresses her concerns about the suburban wave that has plagued the world in recent times. According to her, the mind, the body, and the world have a special bond that is being vanquished by the lack of recreational walking. In the eighteenth century, there was a “golden era” for walking because recent accommodations made it possible for the general public to enjoy the untamed nature all around them. This era was short-lived, as suburbs rose to popularity so did their unorthodox labyrinths which made walking simple distances nearly impossible to the public. The reason why walking in nature is important, Solnit shares, is because it allows the mind to flow freely without the corruption of everyday obstacles that the suburbs brought. She explains that in order for the mind to avoid being molded into a sterile dull thing, it must imagine in nature. If we do not continue to walk, the history we have with walking will diminish as will the special bond our ancestors cherished so dearly. Without it, Solnit fears that we will no longer be able to produce such things, however, in recent times walking is not a luxury many can do. I disagree because society has changed to the point where walking is not only a rarity but also a threat to many.

In Walking and The Suburbanization Psyche, by Rebecca Solnit, the author argues that modern society’s continued decline in walking will toll away from our connections to the body, world, and imagination. Rebecca Solnit blames the advancements in technology and suburbanization stating that they are leading causes as to why walking is done less in modern society. Suburbanized society stands to lose not only the ability to socialize and create connections with the environment around them including nature, but the creativeness that makes humans unique; giving the world a sense of individuality. The advancements in technology have also made suburban population lazy due to everything being convenient whereas, walking can help with that. The

Because Schreffler is arguing that Díaz, López de Gómara, Solís and González created a misconstrued view of Aztec painting, imagery is a vital component of this essay. The visuals strengthen his argument by giving viewers a clear sense of the difference between typical Aztec panting and the painting that the accounts describe. For example, Schreffler includes two images of paintings done by the

If you ever get a chance to visit Chaco Canyon National Monument in New Mexico, you should take the time to just stand in the desert and listen. The silence in this place is physical; you can feel it surround you. This is a silence with depth and layers that are unbroken even by the wind, which moves through emptiness and speaks only in occasional sighs through the canyons. The air itself is very clear—the lack of humidity gives the cliffs and buttes sharp lines, and the colors of the earth, though muted, stand in stark relief to the blueness of the sky. Night comes gradually to this place. The height and dryness of the air allows the stars to appear before the sun has set—creating an odd

Annie Dillard’s essay “Living Like Weasels” exhibits the mindless, unbiased, and instinctive ways she proposes humans should live by observing a weasel at a nearby pond close to her home. Dillard encounters about a sixty second gaze with a weasel she seems to entirely connect with. In turn, this preludes a rapid sequence of questions and propositions about “living as we should”. Unfortunately, we tend to consume our self with our surroundings and distractions in life, which is not a problem until we are blatantly told. How have we strayed so far from our once instinctive lifestyle?

Richard Misrach captures the tone of a stark and bleak reality with the darkening clouds and the barrenness of the wasteland in his photo of Wall, East of Nogales, Arizona. He is making a statement about the issues that the U.S. and Mexico have long had. The image displays a wall surrounded by desolation with a path by it’s side leading off toward the darkening clouds. The wall continues until it melds with the wasteland. The path is joined by a smaller path that merges into it. After it goes over a hill, it disappears. The clouds darken when approaching the horizon. The yellow and brown weeds and grasses of the hilly plains leads to forbidding mountains. There is a small light post on the wall. All in all, it is a depressing sight to see. Richard Misrach is implying that the future of the U.S. and Mexico is bound together and will see dark times before reaching an impassable obstacle if there is no change in their policies involving each other. Everything in the image

But how misled I actually was—at least, in Walker Percy’s eyes. In his essay, “The Loss of the Creature,” Percy recalls a scene from The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter: